Textile heater apparatus

ABSTRACT

A YARN HEATER FOR HEATING A PLURALITY OF YARNS IN A MULTISTATION YARN PROCESSING MACHINE HAS A SINGLE HEATING UNIT SANDWICHED IN HEAT-CONDUCTING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO THERMALLY CONDUCTIVE PLATES, EACH OF WHICH IS PROVIDED AT ITS SIDE FACING AWAY FROM THE HEATING UNIT WITH HEATER TUBES THROUGH WHICH THE YARN IS TO PASS. THESE HEATER TUBES MAY EXTEND IN PARALLELISM OR AT AN ANGLE OF INCLINATION TO AN EDGE OF THE RESPECTIVELY ASSOCIATED PLATE.

Dec. 14, 1971 w. PARKER TEXTILE HEATER APPARATUS Filed Deo. 3l, 1969 United States Patent O 3,626,558 TEXTILE HEATER APPARATUS Walter Parker, Wilmslow, England, assgnor t Ernest Scragg & Sons Limited Filed Dec. 31, 1969, Ser. No. 889,588 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Jan. 11, 1969, 1,761/ 69 Int. Cl. D023 13/00; F26b 23/06; H05b 3/ 06 U.S. Cl. 28-62 10 Claims ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE A yam heater for heating a plurality of yarns in a multistation yarn processing machine has a single heating unit sandwiched in heat-conducting relationship between two thermally conductive plates, each of which is provided at its side facing away from the heating unit with heater tubes through which the yarn is to pass. These heater tubes may extend in parallelism or at an angle of inclination to an edge of the respectively associated plate.

This invention relates to yarn heaters.

This invention comprises a yarn heater for heating a plurality of yarns in a multistation yarn processing machine, comprising a plurality of heater tubes on one side of a heat conductive plate, in good thermal contact therewith, and a heating element supplying heat uniformly to the other side of said plate.

Said heating element may comprise an electric resistance heating wire or strip embedded in a mat of electrically insulating material. Said mat may be of glass fibre.

Said plate may be of a heat conductive metal such as aluminum.

The tubes may be in castings bolted or otherwise secured to the plate. The castings may have a iiat face against the said plate and a bore parallel to the face which houses a tubular insert. The castings preferably extend substantially the full length of the plate.

The heater tubes preferably have a smooth internal surface, and can be of stainless steel.

The heating element may be sandwiched between two heat conductive plates, each having attached tubes, so that the heater lis double sided.

The heater may comprise an envelope for the tubes, plate and element, packed with insulating material such as glass bre.

The plate may be substantially rectangular, with the tubes parallel to one edge thereof. Otherwise, the tubes may be at an inclination to an edge of the plate.

The heater may have a centrally located temperature sensing device for controlling the temperature of the heater.

The invention also comprises a multistation yarn processing machine comprising such a heater. Such machine may be a false twist crimping machine, when the heater may be located with the path of the yarns after the false twisting device, whereby to effect reheating of the false twist crimping yarn.

Embodiments of yarn heaters according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a part sectional front elevation,

FIG. 2 is a plan,

FIG. 3 is a sectional side elevation showing the location of the heater in a false twist crimping machine, and

FIG. 4 is a part diagrammatic elevation of another embodiment.

FIGS. l to 3 illustrate a yarn heater 11 for a plurality ice of yarns 12 in a multistation false twist crimping machine, comprising a plurality of heater tubes 13 on one side of a heat conductive aluminum plate 14, in good thermal contact therewith, and a heating element 15 supplying heat uniformly to the other side of said plate 14.

The heating element 15 comprises an electric resistance heating wire or strip 16 embedded in a mat 17 of electrically insulating glass fibre material.

The tubes 13 are in castings 18 bolted to the plate 14. The castings 18 each have a llat face 18a against the plate 14 and a bore parallelto the face 18a which houses a tube 13. The tubes 13 have smooth internal surfaces and are of stainless steel. The heating element 15 is sandwiched between two aluminum plates 14, each having tubes 13 so that the heater is double sided. In this case, each casting 18 may be attached to its plate by one bolt, and the two plates 14 and the element 15 fastened together by bolts passing through the entire assembly from one casting 18 to a casting 18 on the opposite Iface. The castings 18 eX- tend substantially the full length of the plate 14.

The heater comprises an envelope for the tubes 13, plates 14 and element 15, in the form of a sheet metal box 22 packed with insulating material 23 such as glass fibre. The tubes 13 have collars 24 which locate in the top of the box 22.

Conveniently, there are sixteen heater tubes in a double sided heater assembly, arranged as shown in pairs, each pair processing two yarns at a single two-yarn processing station. In a crimping machine, a number of such assemblies would be mounted side-by-side along the machine.

Power is conveniently supplied to the element at a point 25 located centrally of the mat 17, and a temperature sensing element 26 controls the amount of electrical energy supplied to the resistance element 16 to maintain a uniform processing temperature.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the heat conductive plates 14 are rectangular, and the tubes 13 are parallel to one edge, which is arranged vertically in the machine. It is, however, possible, as shown in FIG. 3 to mount the tubes 13 at an inclination to the bottom edge of the plates 14, so that relatively long yarn paths can be accommodated within a small vertical extent. In this case, the plate 14 can be in the form of a parallelogram as shown, as can also the box 22, if desired.

FIG. 3 shows the yarn heater in position in a false twist crimping machine, in which the yarns 12 pass from a supply (not shown) to feed rollers 27 and then downwardly via twist-setting Vheaters 28 to false twist devices 29, being set on the heaters 28. Yarn is withdrawn from the devices 29 by further feed rollers 31, which supply the yarns (now crimped yarns) to the heater tubes 13, from which the yarns are withdrawn by feed rollers 32, whence they pass to wind-up means 33. The ratio of the peripheral speeds of the rollers 31, 32 determines the amount of contraction permitted kthe yarns, which dictates their eventual properties when made up into garments.

It has been found desirable to prevent the yarn from touching the walls of the tubes 13 as far as possible, in order to avoid oily deposits which might build up on the internal surfaces of the tubes 13. Since static electricity building up on the yarn could cause the yarns to cling to the internal surfaces of the tubes 13, elimination of this static electricity is desirable. This can be done just as the yarns enter the tubes 13. To reduce further the likelihood of oily deposits interfering with the running of the yarns, the tubes 13 should be maintained throughout their length at a temperature above the condensation temperature of the oily deposits.

What I claim is:

1. A yarn heater for heating a plurality of yarns in a yarn processing machine, comprising a pair of plates of thermally conductive material having respective inwardly directed juxtaposed sides, and respective outwardly directed sides; a single heating device sandwiched between said inwardly directed sides in thermally conductive relationship with said plates; and a first and second plurality of heater tubes provided on the respective outwardly directed sides in thermally conductive relationship with said plates, and adapted for passage of yarns to be heated.

2. A yarn heater as defined in claim 1, wherein said heating device comprises an electric heating element, and electrically insulating material embedding said heating element.

3. A yarn heater as defined in claim 2, wherein said electrically insulating material is a mat of glass fiber.

4. A yarn heater as defined in claim 1, wherein said thermally conductive material of said plates is aluminum.

5. A yarn heater as defined in claim 1, further comprising castings of thermally conductive material secured to the respective plates and each having a flat face contacting one of said outwardly directed sides, and a plurality of bores extending in at least substantial parallelism with the plane of said flat face; and wherein said heater tubes are tubular inserts accommodated in said bores.

6. A yarn heater as defined in claim 1, wherein said heater tubes have smooth internal surfaces.

7. A yarn heater as defined in claim 1, wherein said heater tubes are of stainless steel.

8. A yarn heater as defined in claim 1, wherein said plates are of substantially rectangular outline; and Wherein said heater tubes extend in at least substantial parallelism with one edge of the respectively associated plate.

9. A yarn heater a defined in claim 1, wherein said plates each have at least one edge; and wherein said heater tubes have longitudinal axes which extend at an inclination to said edge.

10. A yarn heater as defined in claim 1, and further comprising a centrally located temperature sensing device for sensing and controlling the temperature of said heater.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,864,229 12/1958 Seem et al. 28-62 X 3,010,271 11/1961 Batsch 57-34 HS 3,015,872 1/1962 Jones 28--62 3,063,124 11/1962 Hilleary et al. 28-62 3,077,724 2/1963 Stoddard et al. 57-34 HS 3,204,396 9/1965 lFoster et al. 28-62 X 3,257,790 6/1966 Dudzik et al. 28-62 X 3,293,838 12/1966 Batsch 28-62 X 3,298,430 1/ 1967 Kodaira 28-62 X 3,367,006 2/ 1968 Mattingly 28--62 3,439,391 4/1969 De Vore et al. 28-62 X FOREIGN PATENTS 562,717 12/1957 Belgium 219-388 1,268,471 6/1961 France 57--34 HS 1,281,281 12/1961 France 219-388 557,597 11/1943 Great Britain 219-388 874,478 8/ 1961 Great Britain 28-62 JOHN PETRAKES, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

